Inki at the Circus
Inki at the Circus is a 1947 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones, with story by Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce. Plot Inki is the "African Wildman" exhibit at the circus sideshow. As he sits in his cage, a dog spies the bone in his topknot. It grabs the bone, still attached to Inki, and carries it through the bars and buries it in the yard. The dog walks away so proudly that it barely notices when it passes another dog walking the opposite direction. When this sinks in, he runs back but the other dog has already dug up the bone, and Inki. The two dogs tussle over the bone for a while, until they drop him when both are scared by an animal breaking out from a large crate. The side of the crate pops off revealing a safe inside. Then the door of the safe busts off and out walks the Minah Bird. It ambles across the yard and hops into a hole. The dogs cautiously sniff around and poke their heads down the hole, but the Minah ties their noses together. An appreciative Inki tries to shake hands with the Minah, but the bird flicks him away. The first dog, now untied, smell Inki's bone again. It chases him into the big tent and up onto the high wire before they realize it. When they do, they begin to inch themselves toward safety, but the wire begins to shake in time with the Minah's unique gait. The dog leaps to the platform as the wire snaps, but Inki falls to the trampoline below. When he bounces back up, his bone jabs through the platform, leaving Inki hanging below it. The dog grabs the bone but, since Inki won't fit through the hole, the bone pulls out of his mouth. The dog tries again, pulling for all he's worth. The platform breaks and Inki and the dog sail through the air. The dog's feet catch the trapeze, and he grabs Inki by the ankles. However, the second dog has been watching and it gets on the other trapeze. As they all swing, the second dog repeatedly tries to bite the bone but misses. On its third try, the Minah hands it a barbell and it plummets to the floor, but the trapeze slingshots it back in the air where it knocks Inki and the first dog off their trapeze. Inki's bone comes loose and lands in a bucket. The second dog lands in the bucket and comes up with the bone. The first dog lands on top of the other in the bucket and comes up with the bone. Inki lands on top of the dogs in the bucket and the three come up without the bone. The bucket rumbles and out hops the Minah, wearing the bone in its own topknot. Availability *VHS - Viddy-Oh! For Kids Cartoon Festivals: Little Tweety and Little Inki Cartoon Festival Featuring "I Taw a Putty Tat" *LaserDisc - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 1, Side 5: Chuck Jones *VHS - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 5: Chuck Jones Gallery extra1.jpg b9e49c38846811e7d7dfe0647bef66e0.jpg Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones Category:Shorts Category:1947 Category:Inki Shorts Category:Minha Cartoon Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts Category:Blue Ribbon reissues Category:Cartoons written by Michael Maltese Category:Cartoons written by Tedd Pierce Category:Cartoons animated by Abe Levitow Category:Cartoons with layouts by Robert Gribbroek Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Robert Gribbroek Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package Category:Cartoons with no dialogue